Third Imperial Egg
| Third Imperial Fabergé egg | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Year delivered | 1887 |
| Customer | Alexander III |
| Recipient | Maria Feodorovna |
| Current owner | |
| Individual or institution | Wartski on behalf of an unidentified private collector |
| Year of acquisition | 2014 |
| Design and materials | |
| Workmaster | August Holmström |
| Materials used | Jewels, gold, white enamel, diamond |
| Height | 82 millimetres (3.2 in) |
| Surprise | Vacheron & Constantin Lady's watch |
The Third Imperial egg is an 1887 Fabergé egg rediscovered in 2012. The rediscovery of this egg was announced publicly and covered in many news stories in 2014.
Vacheron Constantin Lady's watch, with white enamel dial and openwork diamond set gold hands.
The 1887 Imperial Easter egg was described by Russian Imperial Cabinet documents as:
"Easter egg with clock, decorated with diamonds, sapphires and rose-cut diamonds - 2160 r:"
"Gold egg with clock with diamond pushpiece on gold pedestal with 3 sapphires and rose-cut diamond roses"
"Gold egg with clock on diamond stand (?) on gold pedestal with 3 sapphires and rose-cut diamonds"
The Russian word for "clock" and "watch" is the same.
In March 1902, an egg identical to the egg recovered in 2012 was photographed in situ with other treasures of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna in the Von Dervais Mansion Exhibition in St. Petersburg. The exhibition was titled Fabergé artifacts, antique miniatures and snuffboxes which suggests the objects which are not miniatures or snuffboxes are from Fabergé (Palmade and Palmade 2011). The photograph from this exhibit survives and the egg identified in 2011 as the Third Imperial Egg is seen sitting in a vitrine in which the other eleven visible eggs are all identifiable as Fabergé eggs belonging to Maria Feodorovna (Palmade and Palmade 2011).
The Russian Imperial Cabinet descriptions fit a description in the 1922 Soviet inventory of confiscated items of an egg with sapphires, a diamond pushpiece and a gold pedestal (Palmade and Palmade 2011). The 1922 inventory does not specify that this egg is by Fabergé, but it is the egg description in that inventory which is most consistent with the Fabergé one in the earlier account books of the Russian Imperial Cabinet. The failure to identify the egg as Fabergé during the 1917 to 1922 confiscation and transfers probably represents the beginning of its loss.
From the beginning of serious Fabergé scholarship until 2008, the Blue Serpent Clock Egg was identified as the 1887 Imperial Easter egg, although it had no sapphires, the elaborate style was more consistent with later Fabergé eggs, and the 1887 price of 2160 rubles seemed too low. Therefore, a theory of a lost Third Imperial Egg was not put forth until October 2008 when Annemiek Wintraecken postulated that the Blue Serpent Clock Egg was in fact the supposedly missing 1895 egg, leaving the 1887 egg unaccounted for.
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Wikipedia